The Baltic countries were associated with electricity supplied through Finland, Sweden and Poland after being disconnected from Russia, and had been supplying electricity for decades.
advertisementLatvia, Estonia and Lithuania all joined the European power system on Sunday, underscoring the historical importance of not relying on Russia for its electricity.
“We did that!” Latvian president Edgars Rinkivicho posted on X:
More than 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it ended Baltic’s final connection with oil- and gas-rich Russia. Like other parts of Europe, for the three countries, the move was immersed in geopolitical and symbolic importance.
On Saturday, all remaining power lines between them and Russia, the exclusives of Belarus and Russia’s Kalininrad, were caught between Poland, Lithuania and the sea, and were turned off one by one. First, a specially made 9m high clock in downtown Lithuania-Vilnius counted down the last few seconds – minutes later, followed by Latvia, Estonia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Poland president and the Baltic states were to attend a ceremony in Vilnius on Sunday evening, along with other high-ranking officials.
The Baltic countries, all NATO members, have often had difficulty with Russia since declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Regarding this, the relationship has been newly lowered.
The 16 power lines connecting the Baltic Sea and the Baltic States, Russia and Belarus have been dismantled in recent years as new grids were created that link to the rest of the EU, including the underwater cables of the Baltic Sea.
Three Baltic countries, which have a 1,633-kilometer border along with Russia and Belarus, notified in 2024 the plan of their disconnection to avoid hostile reactions to Moscow and Minsk.
